A delegation of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) visited and worked with the relevant agencies in Algeria on Monday to accelerate the second phase of a tripartite joint venture project of Vietnam, Algeria, and Thailand to exploit oil at the Bir Seba oil field in Algeria.

The joint venture of Vietnam’s PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corporation (PVEP), an arm of PVN, Algeria’s national state-owned oil company Sonatrach, and Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production Public Co. Ltd. was established in 2009 with a total investment of US$1.26 billion.

Of the total, PVEP accounts for the largest proportion, at 40 percent.

The Bir Seba oil field, which is located in the Hassi Messaoud area in Ouargla Province, over 600 kilometers south from Algeria’s capital city of Algiers, is being exploited under the first phase with a designed capacity of 20,000 barrels a day, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Since the first oil flow in August 2015, the project has exploited a total of 44.27 million barrels of oil, bringing significant benefits to PVN.

The project is considered a bright spot in the bilateral cooperation between Vietnam and Algeria.

In the second phase, the project will also have a capacity of 20,000 barrels per day and is expected to welcome the first oil flow in the first quarter of 2026.

The oil field is in the Sahara Desert with unfavorable traveling and living conditions. However, some 40 Vietnamese officials and technician of PVEP and PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD) are working there.

PVN’s delegation led by Hoang Quoc Vuong, chairman of PVN’s members’ council, visited the oil field, encouraged Vietnamese officials and technicians working there and removed barriers to their work.

With the support of the Vietnamese Embassy in Algeria, the delegation also met with Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab and Toufik Hakkar, CEO of Sonatrach, to seek more cooperation opportunities in the oil sector in the North African country.

During the meeting with the Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines, the two sides reviewed the partnership between Sonatrach and PVN, and assessed the prospects for the cooperation development between the two firms.

After presenting Algeria’s oil and gas development plan, Minister Mohamed invited PVN to further invest in the oil and gas in his country and promote their win-win relationship.

He also invited PVN to take part in tenders that Algeria will launch in the coming time.

For his part, Vuong expressed his satisfaction with the quality of the relationship between PVN and Sonatrach and his interest in the further investment in Algeria, especially in existing and new oil and gas projects in the African country.

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